


Rosy Cheeks Mini Tarts

by littledust



Category: Waitress - Bareilles/Nelson
Genre: Baking, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 21:39:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9033380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littledust/pseuds/littledust
Summary: Jenna is all alone with her new baby and her new pie shop on Christmas--at least, until her friends turn up.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spyglass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spyglass/gifts).



> A sweet treat for you, Yuletider! ♥

Jenna stared hard at the batter. In her experience, glaring didn't make water boil or a souffle rise, but maybe a little mental coaxing would make the last lumps of cream cheese form a blissful union with the sugar. "Don't you want to be cute little mini tarts?" she asked. But maybe that was trying to have it both ways, glaring and then pleading. Baked goods deserved better than that.

"She's talking to her baking again."

"You were right. We're just in time!"

Next to Jenna, Lulu gurgled in her baby seat and shook her rattle. Jenna closed her eyes for just a second, not quite believing that there were other human adults around for her to talk to, much less the human adults she suspected were in the kitchen of Lulu's Pies. She took one steadying breath, switched off the mixer, and turned around.

"Becky! Dawn! What are y'all doing here?"

"Ogie and I saw the light on when we drove past earlier," Dawn began.

Becky smacked Jenna on the arm and got straight to the point. "Why didn't you tell us you needed help? We wouldn't leave you alone on Christmas!"

There was a stool by her side all of a sudden, so Jenna sat in it. While she formulated her answer, Becky turned the mixer back on and Dawn kneeled in front of Lulu's seat and picked her up. Everything felt too loud and too bright and too fast, though a minute ago Jenna had been fine on her own, just, you know. Talking to cream cheese lumps.

"Well, it's Christmas," Jenna said at last, starting from the most logical place. "Didn't seem fair to ask you to work on Christmas. It wasn't your fault that they delivered the new oven late, or that they took their sweet time installing it."

"I still can't believe you _paid_ them," muttered Becky.

"But I kept the Job Well Done Pie," Jenna reminded her. Becky now mollified, she continued, "And then it started snowing! When's the last time you've driven in more than a quarter inch of snow? So I said to myself, it's only a few more things to bake for the New Year's Eve orders.

"Your mom's talking to herself and her mixer," Dawn whispered to Lulu, _sotto voce_. "But I guess I'm not one to talk about peculiar." Lulu gurgled again in response, then attempted to stuff her rattle in her mouth.

"Christmas isn't a time for working yourself to death all alone." Becky cracked an egg to emphasize her point and beat it into the now lump-free batter. Jenna reached for the lemon juice, but Becky waved her off and added the rest of the liquid ingredients herself, no recipe consultation necessary. (Which was good, since Jenna never really wrote down her recipes. She was meaning to someday.)

Dawn, Lulu on one hip, dug around in Jenna's purse and pulled out her phone. "So Ogie and me drove by and I said, 'Ogie, we've already had our Christmas. Jenna needs me.' I texted Becky, we put together some things, and Ogie drove us here."

Jenna tried to picture Ogie navigating a full two inches of snow, which around here amounted to a blizzard. She tried to picture Ogie in a _car_. "And… even though you say I shouldn't be working on Christmas, you two are here to work on Christmas?"

"Honey, it ain't work if you're with your family." Becky picked up the whiskey glass Jenna had used to press the graham cracker crust to the bottom of the mini tart cups. "You do know you can use this for more than just baking, right?"

"Baby," Jenna reminded her, but it was all for naught. Becky and Dawn knew full well what a good baby Lulu was. She was the only baby in the world who could fall asleep better in a noisy kitchen than in a silent bedroom. _Her mother's daughter,_ people always said. Every time, Jenna's heart ached with pride.

Becky handed Jenna the bowl so she could drop careful spoonfuls of cheesecake into the mini tart cups. All the while, there was rustling behind her--usually Jenna baked on the island that let her see out into the shop, but that was a floury wreckage from the four chocolate mousse pies she baked earlier today.

Jenna slid the mini tarts into the oven, easy as pie (for once), and then had to blink quite a few times when she turned around. Gone was the mess from before, even though she could have sworn she'd made enough mess for fifteen days' worth of cleanup, not fifteen minutes. Becky and Dawn had dragged the little mini Christmas tree from the counter into the kitchen. Nestled underneath the tree were brightly wrapped boxes, even though all of the coworkers (Jenna still couldn't think of herself as the boss) had already exchanged gifts. Improvising, Dawn had stuck Jenna's phone in a metal bowl, where it played Christmas carols. Outside, big fat flakes of snow fell in lazy spirals.

And that smell… Was that…?

"Turkey burger and fries," Becky confirmed, holding up a takeout bag. She still pronounced "turkey burger" with faint suspicion, as though any hunk of meat from a bird could lay no claim to the word "burger." She was getting better about it, though. (Jenna had read some article about red meat and breast milk and the thought of _ruining her baby's food_ had put her off the stuff, even though everyone told her Lulu would be fine.)

Jenna took the bag, too hungry to start crying over her kind, thoughtful friends. "You have no idea how good it is to smell something with no sugar," she said, then bit into her turkey burger with a sigh of pure bliss. People always asked her how she made such delicious treats without eating them all day, but it was easy: bake enough of them, and they all smelled like work. Not to mention she always licked the bowl, which filled her up before anything came out of the oven.

Lulu had her first french fry right before the mini cheese tarts came out of the oven. She gave one thoughtful chew, then mashed the rest of the fry into her hair. "A beauty queen!" Becky cooed.

Jenna, pressing one maraschino cherry into the center of each cheesecake mini tart, laughed. "That beauty queen will need a bath before she goes to bed."

"Well, darlin', I think we're spending the night." Becky gestured at the falling snow, which was picturesque but would be next to impossible to drive in. "You got that couch upstairs, right?"

"I have extra blankets in the back." Dawn shrugged at their confused looks. "It's cold in the freezer! A jacket isn't warm enough."

"A girls' night in." Jenna took Lulu from Dawn and kissed the top of her head, mashed french fry and all. "A girls' _Christmas_ in," she corrected.

Becky put an arm around her shoulders. "Wouldn't have it any other way. C'mon, it's time to open your presents."

Jenna left her Rosy Cheeks Mini Tarts to cool on the counter and joined her friends.


End file.
